Andrew Pease (b. 1979) got his start as a composer writing rock songs in high school, and he has written and arranged for wind bands and chamber groups ever since. In his day job, he serves as Associate Professor of Music and Director of Instrumental Music at Hartwick College in Oneonta, NY, where he leads the Wind Ensemble and Brass Ensemble. He is also co-conductor of the Catskill Valley Wind Ensemble, a community band also based in Oneonta. His guest conducting work has taken him to several states and the UK, and he has presented nationally and internationally on topics in the wind band field. He studied music and music education at Dartmouth College, Columbia University Teachers College, and Hofstra University. He completed doctoral studies in wind conducting at Arizona State University, studying with Gary Hill. His work there earned him the 2017 American Prize in Collegiate Wind Band Conducting. He started his career in New York City, where he was music director of the Columbia University Wind Ensemble and the community band Columbia Summer Winds (now Manhattan Summer Winds). Throughout his varied career, he has directed players of all ages and ability levels, from elementary beginning band to adult amateurs to professional ensembles. His latest compositions appear at his personal website, www.andypease.com. He also runs two websites dedicated to wind bands. Wind Band Literature (windliterature.org) is a repertoire resource for bands around the world. The Wind Band Symphony Archive (windsymphonies.org) is a dynamic archive of symphonies for wind band.

That was weird. I’m not used to talking about myself as a composer. But here we are. I’m a composer! And I wrote Songs of Childhood, a four movement suite of abstracted children’s songs, in 2023 and 2024. Here are the “official” program notes from my score:

Songs of Childhood started small – it began with the first movement, “Fanfare on ‘Row Your Boat,’” which came out of a need for an opener to the Hartwick Wind Ensemble’s Children’s Concert. Essentially, I had a number of wonderful selections picked that were perfect for the occasion, but none of them were suitable to open the concert. I wanted something that would be familiar to children, but somewhat symphonic and exciting, that would grab their attention immediately. I thought to myself, “I wonder if anyone has written a fanfare on Row Your Boat…”

The next thing I knew, that someone was me!

The “Fanfare” premiered on October 5, 2023, as a standalone piece, and there things stood for several weeks. Then Michael Markowski visited Oneonta to work with my Hartwick students and the Catskill Valley Wind Ensemble. I played him the recording of the “Fanfare.” He wanted more, and planted the idea for a suite. Work on this commenced in January 2024, and finished at the end of March.

The second movement, “Cradle Will Fall?,” imagines a child of about 4 realizing what the lyrics to “Rockabye Baby” are actually saying. A parent sings through the song, leading the child to question its meaning, and a bit of understandable terror ensues, complete with epic falls and trombone glisses.

The third movement, “Frére Marie,” mashes together “Frére Jacques” and “Mary Had a Little Lamb” in a jaunty toy march. I couldn’t help but echo Vincent Persichetti, William Schumann, and even Darius Milhaud as it unfolded. I was also tickled to stick a gender-bending twist in the title.

“Twinkle” rounds out the set, deconstructing the melody of “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” into dreamily stacked perfect fifths. In a sort of counterpoint to “Cradle Will Fall?,” it builds to a moment of awe and reverence. I tried out several different structural and tonal ideas for this movement, including a complex theme and variations and a Sousa-style march, but ultimately, this simple little tune wanted to relax and sing for itself.

Songs of Childhood is dedicated to my children, Ben and Maya (8 and 5 as I complete it), who bring so much energy and curiosity to everything they do.

The premiere of the full suite is still to come with the Catskill Valley Wind Ensemble on November 17, 2024. For now, I have MIDI recordings of each movement posted on my website. Meanwhile, as familiar as the source tunes are, a refresher could be useful. So here they are! The first movement uses “Row, row, row your boat”:

The second begins with an allusion (that later returns) to “Lullaby and Goodnight”:

This, in turn, is based on Johannes Brahms’s Wiegenlied:

The meat of the movement comes from “Rockabye Baby”:

Incidentally, I’m far from the first person to pull “Cradle Will Fall” as the emotionally important line from this tune. Check out the Google search!

The third movement combines “Frère Jacques”:

…with “Mary Had a Little Lamb”:

The final movement uses “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” for some stargazing action: